A rough & ready rule is: if the bees leave you alone after you have
slowly moved about 2 m (2 yd.) away from the hive you have just
manipulated, then they're OK. If they're still with you after 5 m (51/2
yd) then they're mean.

However it does depend a lot on ciecumstances - if it's a glorious sunny
day and there's a flow of nectar on they will almost ignore you
completely, if the weather's poor and there's no flow even the best
pussycats will be a bit "tetchy".Also depends on how careful the
beekeeper has been - you'll be gentler with no gloves on (easier said
than done, but if it's a sunny/nectary day, try it)

It's worth recording the "leave-you-alone" distance each time you go
through them however to get a longer term view of which are goodies
(breed your queens from them) and which are baddies (re-queen them)

Alan Riach
Bathgate,Edinburgh